BLOG TOUR & GIVEAWAY - SHANNON WINSLOW ON PERSUASION BEHIND THE SCENES

Hello dear friends and welcome to our online book club. Today our guest is Shannon Winslow, who is one of the twelve authors of Austen-inspired fiction that collaborated in a unique, creative attempt to fill in "missing" scenes to Austen's classic work, Persuasion,  sure to delight any true fan. The result is Persuasion Behind the Scenes.   Enjoy Shannon's guest blog and take your chances to win in the giveaway contest you find below. 

MODERN PERSUASION BLOG TOUR - SARA MARKS, 10 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT CAPTAIN WENTWORTH

1. He’s in the Navy people!  In the Napoleonic era!  If you want to know why that is so awesome, I suggest reading the Horatio Hornblower, Ramage, and Master and Commander series.  

2. Dick Musgrove was clearly a pain in the rear, but Capt. Wentworth made a point of trying to help him.  Even after Dick died (and clearly from his own stupidity), Wentworth is kind to his parents and doesn’t disparage the memory of their son.

3. He is the balance to Anne, she is a woman of thought and he is a man of action.

GIVING GIFTS IN JANE AUSTEN

(by Victoria Grossack)

Are you at a loss, this holiday season, at what to give your loved ones?  Why not take a look at the gifts in Jane Austen’s novels and see if they inspire you?  And beware of the pitfalls, as not all gifts are welcome from all givers.

One of the most frequently bestowed gifts in Jane Austen is money.  The amount may be small, such as the single pound note given by Mrs. Norris to William Price in Mansfield Park (this amount is not given explicitly in the text, but Jane Austen herself told her family that was the amount she meant).  Or the sum may be enormous, as when Darcy bribes Wickham to marry Lydia Bennet in Pride & Prejudice.  Today some people turn their noses up at money, but in Jane Austen’s novels, recipients are almost always appreciative.

Assuming you want to be more personal, let’s consider other significant gifts in Austen’s novels.

The pianoforte.  In Emma (spoiler alert), Frank Churchill ‘anonymously’ gives Jane Fairfax a pianoforte to use during her stay in Highbury.  Of course, Miss Fairfax knows who the donor is, but as she cannot say, the gift makes her vulnerable to unkind rumors.  On the other hand, it is a pretty instrument, a generous gift, and she enjoys playing it tremendously.  What can one learn from this?  It’s always good to remember the tastes of your recipients, and to give them what they lack in certain situations.  Still, do your best not to cause mischief and inconvenience.

SWAY BLOG TOUR - A CONTEMPORARY RETELLING OF PERSUASION BY MELANIE STANFORD

Sway is out today and Melanie Stanford is our guest to launch her blog tour. Sway is a new  modern retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Ready to welcome Melanie  to our online club? And, by the way, don't  miss the chance to win a signed paperback copy. The giveaway is open internationally. Good luck, everyone! 

First off, a big thank you to Maria Grazia for having me today!

Why write a retelling? Why Jane Austen? These are two questions I often hear from people when they find out about SWAY, my contemporary retelling of PERSUASION set in LA.

Before starting SWAY, I’d written a young adult time-travel novel and its sequel. Even though I’d read tons of Jane Austen retellings, I’d never considered writing one of my own. I wanted to write YA and I wanted to write stories with some kind of magical element to them—I never once thought I’d write straight up contemporary.

Then I was in the middle of a re-watch of 2007’s PERSUASION (I’ve got a thing for Rupert Penry-Jones in that movie, not gonna lie *swoons*). I don’t remember what point in the movie it struck me, but I just knew it would make an awesome modern day story.

Out of all of Jane Austen’s novels, I really got Persuasion when I read it. I felt it. I understood Anne’s pain and heartache when she’s constantly thrown into company with Captain Wentworth. I think we all know what it’s like to regret a break-up. There are just so many feelings and drama going on in Persuasion (and I love me some drama) that I wanted so badly to write it down myself, take it into a modern world and put my own spin on it.

SECOND CHANCES BY SARAH PRICE - GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY

Second Chances - guest post by Sarah Price

Oh Anne! How could you possibly have let so many people persuade you to deny Frederick’s proposal and commit yourself to a future devoid of your true love?

Isn’t that the question we ask ourselves while reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion?

First loves do not often evolve into life time partnerships. If they did, I’d be married to Jimmy Cline, the little blond hair boy that I “dated” in fourth grade. He kissed me by the mailbox after carrying my books from the bus stop. That’s what happens when you date “older” men (he was in sixth grade).

But hearts are meant to be broken.

When he broke up with me for Beth Whatever-Her-Last-Name-Was, I thought the world would end. It didn’t.

I cannot imagine my life today if I had pined for him over the years, denying myself other experiences in life and love. Would I have traveled? Would I have my two children? Would I be a successful author?

Probably not.

Each broken heart adds character to our own stories, helping us learn to love in a way that is stronger and better each time around.

For Anne, however, her story has a different ending.

She did pine for Frederick and denied herself future courtships. When Frederick returned, her heart broke all over again only to be rewarded in the end for her steadfast devotion to the memory of their relationship from her youth.

THE PERSUASION OF MISS JANE AUSTEN BLOG TOUR - GUEST POST BY SHANNON WINSLOW

Many thanks to Maria for inviting me to visit as part of my virtual book tour for my new novel, The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen! For today’s post, Maria challenged me to devise a “top ten” list of some kind. I decided to go with my top ten personal favorite quotes from the book – excerpts I’ve never shared before. It’s a collaborative effort between Jane Austen and myself, as you will see.

The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen represents the private journal the great authoress wrote alongside the novel Persuasion, documenting the story behind the story – her real, life-long romance with a sea captain of her own. She’s reflecting back on their early days of exquisite felicity, their painful parting, and what became of their second chance years later – the events which inspired what she wrote in her final, most-poignant novel.

Jane’s relationship with her captain didn’t influence only Persuasion, though, but all her other books as well. She says…

TALKING JANE AUSTEN WITH ... AUTHOR JOANA STARNES + DOUBLE GIVEAWAY OF THE SUBSEQUENT PROPOSAL

Hello  Joana. I’m glad you accepted to join us here at our online book club to talk Jane Austen with us. Welcome!

Many thanks for inviting me, Maria Grazia – it’s a great pleasure to be here!

My first question is: when and how did your lucky encounter with Jane Austen take place?

If we’re talking ‘first encounters’, like many of us here, I began reading Jane Austen in my teens. Real appreciation, though, came much later. At first, I read her novels for the storyline, but as I grew older, I began to look for context, and reading them in context made me love them so much more!

And then came the 1995 adaptation, which I absolutely adored, not only for the usual reasons – i.e. Colin Firth J - but also for the fantastic attention to detail! Having watched the miniseries, I was left craving for more. Luckily, I came across ‘The Making of Pride and Prejudice’, a book explaining how the 1995 adaptation was put together and I was mesmerised by all the details it mentioned, from the endless hours spent looking for the perfect location, to the countless photographs and sketches done in order to get Lydia’s hairstyle right, or Mr. Bennet’s powdering gown, or the colour and the cut of Darcy’s coat! I was thrilled with the little inside stories too, like Benjamin Whitrow (Mr. Bennet) recounting how the period cook was kind enough to ask for his favourite pudding, so that it could be used in one of the scenes – and how he gorged himself on gooseberry fool during the first, second and third take, only to end up hating the very sight of it by the time that particular scene was finally ‘in the can’!

Then, having devoured the book, unlike Mr. Whitrow and his favourite pudding I was still left wanting more, so I began trawling the internet until one happy day I discovered JAFF – and the rest is history!

PERSUASION, LYME AND THE COBB - GUEST POST BY HELENA FAIRFAX

The Cobb at Lyme Regis

My name’s Helena Fairfax. I’m a romance author and Jane Austen fan, and I’m thrilled to be here at My Jane Austen Book Club. I’m a British author, and I live in the north of England, in one of my favourite parts of the world – on the edge of the Yorkshire moors, the wild landscape which provided the setting for Emily Brontë’sWuthering Heights. 

My first two romance novels, The Silk Romance and The Antique Love, were published last year. (I’m proud to add here that The Silk Romance was described by one reviewer as ‘a mixture of Pride and Prejudice and Cinderella’. 

 As an Austen fan, her commentabsolutely thrilled me to bits.) This winter I spent some time on England’s south coast, in the county of Dorset. This part of the country was much loved by Jane Austen, especially the seaside town of Lyme Regis, which is the setting for Persuasion. If you follow me on Facebook you may already have seen some of my photos of Dorset on England's south coast, where I spent Christmas.

 On Christmas Day we visited Lyme Regis, a small town in Dorset, by the seaside. I was most excited about this, as I've never been to Lyme before, and anyone who's read Jane Austen's Persuasion will know it as the setting for her novel. It's also the setting for John Fowles The French Lieutenant's Woman, which features this famous scene between Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons on Lyme's Cobb. 

The Cobb is a man made wall that protects the harbour.  As quite often happens with these things, both the Cobb and the harbour were a lot smaller than I imagined.

PERSUASION IN JANE AUSTEN'S PERSUASION AND ... OTHER NOVELS

by guest blogger Victoria Grossack

Some may think that focusing on the art and importance of persuasion in Jane Austen’s last written novel, Persuasion, is inappropriate, for she did not choose this title herself.  The book was published after her death, and its title chosen by one of her brothers, Henry Austen.  While writing it Jane called the story “The Elliots.”  Henry Austen likewise chose the title for his sister’s other posthumously published work, Northanger Abbey, called“Susan” during Jane Austen’s life (readers may notice that Northanger Abbey has no Susan in it; when Jane Austen revised this work, she changed the heroine’s name from Susan to Catherine).Henry Austen may have selected the titlePersuasion based on its similarity to the titles of two of his sister’s other successful works: Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.  Perhaps Persuasion, being shorter, merits only a single word.

Jane Austen’s other novels contain explicit examples of persuasion that are vital to their plots.  In Sense and Sensibility, John Dashwoodis persuaded by his wife not to assist his half-sisters.  Pride and Prejudice’s Mr. Bingley is persuaded by his sisters and Mr. Darcy to stay away from Jane Bennet, a decision he regrets and eventually puts aside.  Emma persuades Harriet Smith that Mr. Elton is in love with her.  The Thorpes persuade General Tilney that Catherine Morland is broke.Fanny Price is pressured by many to accept Henry Crawford as a suitor in Mansfield Park; even though she is generally considered the weakest of the heroines, she resists firmly. 

FATHERS IN JANE AUSTEN

(by guest blogger Victoria Grossack)  

As Father’s Day comes around, celebrated on the third Sunday in June in most, although certainly not all, countries around the world, Jane Austen devotees can contemplate the rich array of fathers portrayed in the author’s works.

By all accounts, Jane Austen had a wonderful relationship with her own father.  He believed in her abilities and encouraged her to read anything and everything in his library.  Despite the excellence of her own father, Jane Austen, by exercising her powers of observation and her lively imagination, created a completely different set of fathers and father figures in her six novels.

The Fathers of the Heroines

Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.  Mr. Bennet has five daughters.  He loves them, especially the heroine, Elizabeth, but not so unconditionally that he is unaware of their shortcomings.  He is witty and insightful but also indolent.  As a father he has been deficient, as he did not save money to buy them husbands, worthless or deserving.  He had not reigned in the excesses of his wife or his younger daughters. Mr. Bennet, perhaps because he is older and therefore wiser, shows more insight into people than do many of the people around him.  He is not taken in by Mr. Wickham, for example; whereas Elizabeth’s mistrust of that officer only occurs after she learns more information.

COMPETITION - WIN JANE AUSTEN LITERARY WALKING TOURS IN LYME REGIS

© Literary Lyme Walking Tours 

Have we got the competition for you! For all you Jane Austen Persuasion fans, we have got the chance to visit Lyme Regis, where Persuasion is set and go on a Jane Austen tour of the town.

Jane Austen visited Lyme Regis in England on at least two separate occasions and set Persuasion, her last novel, in the town. On the Jane Austen tour we follow in the footsteps of Jane Austen and her characters around Lyme Regis. During the Jane Austen tour we take a walk along the Cobb to see the steps from which Louisa Musgrove fell on the famous harbour wall and visit the inns mentioned in Persuasion. We see the house in which she stayed and enjoy the pleasure of Lyme Regis's views, knowing that you are seeing the same sights as Jane Austen saw and loved.

FIND WONDER IN ALL THINGS BY KAREN M. COX - GIVEAWAY WINNER

Jesse Kimmel-Freeman is the name I picked up through random.org. So, congratulations to her on winning this modern romance inspired to Jane Austen's PERSUASION: Find Wonder in All Things!

Many thanks to Karen M. Cox for being my guest and talking Jane Austen with me!

KIMBERLY TRUESDALE, MY DEAR SOPHY - AUTHOR GUESTPOST & GIVEAWAY

Ever since I announced earlier this year to friends, family, and social media followers that I was writing an Austenesque novel about the Admiral and Mrs. Croft from Persuasion, people have asked me one question over and over: why Sophia Wentworth?

After I get over my perverse pleasure in simply answering "Why not?", I actually do have a few good reasons to choose Sophy Wentworth. Not the least of which is my deep and abiding love for Persuasion.

No one else has written about her. At least this is true to the extent that my internet and library researches can prove. If you are familiar at all with Austenesque fiction (and if you are not, Austenesque Reviews is a good place to get started), you will know that authors largely gravitate toward Pride and Prejudice, down to the minutest secondary characters. When it comes to Persuasion, authors have written some about Captain Wentworth (*swoon*) and Anne Elliot, but just haven't gotten to too many of the secondary characters.

SEARCHING FOR CAPTAIN WENTWORTH BLOG TOUR - INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR JANE ODIWE + GIVEAWAY

After reading Searching for Captain Wentworth, her Persuasion based just released novel I had some questions for Jane Odiwe. She gladly accepted to answer and even granted you readers of My Jane Austen Book Club a signed paperback copy of the book. Leave your comment + your e-mail address, where we can contact you in order to be entered in the giveaway contest. It's open internationally and ends on 21st September.

Hello Jane and welcome back to My Jane Austen Book Club. I’ve just finished reading your new Searching For Captain Wentworth and I’ve got some questions for you.  First of all, congratulations on another delightful Austen-inspired novel.  I loved reading it. Then, to my first question: are you still searching for your Captain Wentworth?

No, I’m very lucky - I met my Captain Wentworth when I was 17 - there were a few obstacles in our way at first, but we overcame them and have been happily married for many years!

If you had to choose between Captain Wentworth and Mr Darcy?

Captain Wentworth every time! What’s not to love? He’s a man in uniform, a self-made man and writes an amazing love letter! Mr Darcy can be a bit of a stuffed shirt, though I love the way he realises his mistakes.

SEARCHING FOR CAPTAIN WENTWORTH BY JANE ODIWE - BOOK REVIEW

Synopsis: When aspiring writer, Sophie Elliot, receives the keys to the family townhouse in Bath, it’s an invitation she can’t turn down, especially when she learns that she will be living next door to the house that Jane Austen lived in. But, Sophie’s neglected ancestral home is harbouring more than the antiquated furniture and nesting mice, though initially Sophie tries to dismiss the haunting visions of a young girl. On discovering that an ancient glove belonging to her mysterious neighbour, Josh Strafford, will transport her back in time to Regency Bath, she questions her sanity, but Sophie is soon caught up in two dimensions, each reality as certain as the other. Torn between her life in the modern world, and that of her ancestor who befriends Jane Austen and her fascinating brother Charles, Sophie’s story travels two hundred years across time, and back again, to unite this modern heroine with her own Captain Wentworth. Blending fact and fiction together the tale of Jane Austen’s own quest for happiness weaves alongside, creating a believable world of new possibilities for the inspiration behind the beloved novel, Persuasion (from the author’s site)

Searching for Captain Wentworth is different from Jane Odiwe’s previous Austen-inspired novels, Willoughby’s Return and Mr Darcy’sSecret. Not only  because it deals mainly with characters and events connected with Austen’s last novel, Persuasion - while the others continued the stories of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice  respectively - but especially because the author adds a spicy ingredient to her narrative to avoid writing the usual sequel.  She adds time travelling and creates two parallel narrative levels between which the protagonist, Sophie Elliot, unexpectedly and inexplicably  moves. She   gets  involved in a series of different adventures and is torn between two men. Is it possible to fall in love with two differently  handsome,  kind, extraordinary  gentlemen , one living in Jane Austen’s time and one in the modern world? Make your acquaintance with Charles and Josh in Jane Odiwe’s new book and you will find yourself sympathizing  with the heroine.

Lovely Janeites: Lauren Bailey - Re-Approaching the Jane Austen You Knew in High School as an Adult

For high school students, one of the most groan-worthy aspects of summer vacation is typically the summer reading list. Even as an avid reader and book lover, I hated the summer reading list for school. Not only did I not want to be required to read seven books over my summer in the sun, I couldn't stand being told what I was allowed to read. Of course, I was proven wrong plenty of times. Most of the books on the summer reading lists were classics that I absolutely adored after the fact, but some I just couldn't get into. Sadly, Jane Austen was one of those authors I just couldn't connect with as a particularly young 14 year old just entering high school.

The summer before my freshman year in high school, Pride and Prejudice was on the "required reading" list. I picked up the book, hearing of it many times before of course and fully expecting to love it. But, that just wasn't the case. I couldn't find my footing in the lofty and unattainable language, I couldn't relate to the characters, and I was completely bored by the plot. I know, I know—you Austen-ites out there are begging to just shake my 14 year old self. I understand. But, I do think that my experience with Austen for the first time serves as an apt lesson. After only reading part of the novel and feigning having read the rest in high school, I sworn off Austen forever—at least that's what I said. 

VISITING BATH & LYME REGIS

Bath - The Crescent

Bath - One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it

On my tour of England from north to south last year (HERE) I couldn’t complete my Jane Austen pilgrimage, since my friends and I were following more than one trail (Richard III, movie locations, literature, abbeys and cathedrals) and each of us had put her own special goals on our common schedule. This is why we decided we would complete my Austen tour this year  visiting the South – West region of the Island and  starting from Somerset (we landed in Bristol),  more precisely  from Bath.

Me at the Roman Baths

The most common opinion on the years Jane Austen spent in Bath wants them unhappy and unproductive.

Jane arrived in Bath with Cassandra and her parents in 1800, after her father had unexpectedly announced his desire to retire from the ministry. Young Jane must have been really depressed if not shocked, though Bath was not and is not an unpleasant place .

Those (1800- 1809) are the years of The Watsons, which she left unfinished, of Harris Bigg-Wither’s proposal (her only marriage proposal for what we know), which she rejected, but those are tragically and especially the years when her father died and left Jane, her mother and her sister doomed to live on the financial contributions of the Austen men.

DATING IN COLLEGE? WHAT JANE AUSTEN'S NOVELS CAN TEACH US ABOUT COURTING - GUEST POST BY ANGELITA WILLIAMS

As one of the most famous female novelists of all time, Jane Austen is ardently admired and adored by women, both young and old, throughout the world. Her poetically written novels have firmly tugged at the heartstrings of millions since her books' first appearances in the late 1700s and early 1800s, and her societal and cultural influences only continue to grow as the years pass.

Thousands of books have been written about the modern wisdom the antiquated Jane can impart to those ladies who long to be romanced, wined, dined, and wooed like the leading ladies in her novels. We live in a time – however – when men would rather text a silly heart icon than handwrite a letter; where subtle romantic gestures have been replaced by obnoxious proclamations on Facebook; where men are pressured to believe that scoring on the first date makes them as suave as Johnny Depp; and where patiently waiting for love to mature and blossom is a thing of the past.

LOVELY JANEITES - MEET KATHERINE BROWNING, ACTRESS.

I discovered Katherine by chance through her vimeo channel. She's an actress who loves period drama, especially Jane Austen adaptations. This is the main reason she produced her Persuasion Project (two videos) and the reason why I invited her to share her experience   here at My Jane Austen Book Club. 

First of all Katherine, welcome to My Jane Austen Book Club! Would you mind to introduce yourself to our readers and tell us something about yoruself?

Gladly. First of all, thank you for finding me and reaching out. Meeting another lover of Jane gets my kettle going :) I’m an actress and I live in Los Angeles. Since I’m all about challenging myself in my career and my life, my ultimate goal is to become the most fearless actress of my generation. I don’t mean that someday I’ll be free from fear exactly, but that when I’m terrified, I will go for broke anyways and do the thing that scares me. And that’s what I did with this project. 

I bumped into your lovely videos on Vimeo and was surprised noticing that you had decided to film scenes from Persuasion.  Why? Why not P&P or S&S which seem to be the best favourite  among young Janeites?

As an actress it’s difficult to get work, and it’s especially difficult to get work that inspires you. To fight this, I took matters into my own hands. Since the period genre is one of my absolute favorites, I decided to produce a project that I could fall in love with as an artist. That project became these two scenes from Persuasion. So yes of course P&P and S&S are fantastic, but I had seen them too many times. I was worried that I might unintentionally duplicate another actress’ performance.  In the end I chose Persuasion because I really love the story and I really really really love Anne Eliot. Her struggle to overcome the pressure of her society and gain the courage she needs to follow her heart, mirrors my own struggle with fearlessness. Her story is very modern in that sense. 

How did you work on your video project? What did you start with?

Once I chose Persuasion, I read it with an eye towards what scenes I could film on my limited budget of 500 dollars. I ended up with my final two scene choices because I could be the only actor on camera, thus limiting my costume fees, and because I could film outside which meant I could get away without paying for a location or for filming permits. And I really loved getting to adapt Austen’s beautiful book into a film script. 

From the adaptation I recruited my voice over actors, my crew (my hubby and mother), I prepared the character, and I rented the proper equipment. We ended up filming the two scenes in one afternoon. We often had to stop and start filming as mountain bikers and hikers with dogs passed by. I’m sure they got a kick out of seeing a Regency lady in the middle of the LA foothills.  

 And finally, I edited the project. What you see is the result of that work. 

Is your dream job becoming an actress?

What I am most proud of is that I claim my life as an actress without waiting for someone to hire me. So yes, while I would love to be paid and while I would love to work on the next Hollywood Austen adaptation, I love where my career is currently at too. 

 Have you seen many Austen adaptations so far? What are your favourite ones?

Oh my goodness yes! Which ones haven’t I seen?! :) Hmmmm. My favorites are usually the long ones. Like Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. I just can’t get enough of that world so I find two hour films frustrating :) Of course, then I just end up watching Pride and Prejudice with Kiera Knightley or Sense and Sensibility with Kate Winslet several times and call it good. This is unconventional, but I love Lost In Austen. It’s all about what it would be like if we went back in time into P&P. 

Darcy and Amanda - Lost in Austen

Did you make the cute Regency dress you wear  in the videos yourself?

I did make the dress and thanks for calling it cute! It was actually the first sewing creation I attempted as an adult. I had no idea what I was doing so I was really quite pleased with how well it came out. 

What is it that most fascinates you in that distant, so different world, which is Jane Austen Era?

Everything about Austen’s stories is romantic. The men (need I say more). The women overcoming the limits of their society. The historical period itself pulls me in: life is slower, no cell phones or multi-tasking, education and wit are attractive, etc. 

Which Austen heroine/s do you most sympathize with?

At this stage in my life, I relate most with Anne Eliot. I touched on it before, but her struggle with fearlessness, to do what her heart demands despite the persuasion of others, is what I struggle with. It may be my own mind telling me I’m not good enough or that I don’t deserve to pursue my bliss as an actress, but I fight that persuasion just as she fights the persuasion of her family. And there is something about the way everyone underestimates her. No one, except Wentworth, really sees Anne’s beauty and value. Sometimes I feel overlooked like that. 

Who’s your favourite Austen hero, instead?

Well I love Mr. Darcy. To see his defenses brought down by love thrills me every time. I also love love love Col. Christopher Brandon. His quiet, steadfast passion is something I’ve come to appreciate in my twenties. It went over my head as a teenager :)

Imagine you could live one day in one of Jane Austen novels, which one would you choose and which scene in the book would you be more excited to live?

I’d like to live more in the Persuasion scene where Anne reads Wentworth’s letter. It’s that moment when her world is blown apart and she realizes she is loveable, desirable, that it isn’t too late to live her ideal life. I could live in that discovery my whole life, in that emotion of worthiness and value and love...in knowing that no mistake is irreversible.  

Going on dreaming, what would you miss the most from present day life?

 I would miss my husband the most :) And as an asthmatic, I’d miss my inhaler. 

Is there anything you haven’t read by Austen that you wish to read soon?

I’d like to read Northanger Abbey. In fact, consider it downloaded on my Kindle now! 

For those interested in seeing what I do next, you can like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. You can also visit my website.

Thanks a lot, Katherine. It's been a pleasure to chat with you. Good luck with your life and career! And now, let's have a look at your videos...

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AUTHOR GUEST POST - REBECCA JAMISON , JANE AUSTEN'S ENGAGEMENT + GIVEAWAY OF PERSUASION, A LATTER-DAY TALE

Rebecca Jamison met her husband on a blind date. His first words to her were, "Do you want to get together and play spin the bottle?"(He was trying to avoid another bad blind date, but she went out with him anyway.) Rebecca grew up in Vienna, Virginia. She attended Brigham Young University, earning a BA and MA in English. In between college and grad school, she served a mission to Portugal and the Cape Verde islands. Rebecca and her husband have six children. She enjoys running, dancing, making jewelry, reading, and watching chick flicks. You can learn more about her at www.rebeccahjamison.com

Jane Austen knew all about big break-ups.  When Jane was twenty-six, she received a proposal from twenty-one-year-old Harris Bigg Wither, her friends’ younger brother.  Although Jane accepted Harris’s proposal at first, she quickly regretted her decision and told him the next morning that she couldn’t marry him after all.  It was definitely a brave move for her time.

Harris was no Captain Wentworth.  He was probably more of a Mr. Collins or worse.  Jane described him as having a “bad habit of body.”  Others wrote that he stuttered and was uncouth.  Though he was wealthier than Jane, he was no match for her intellect.

Jane Austen’s broken engagement was an embarrassing memory for her.  Still, she was bold enough to write Persuasion, a book that revolves around a broken engagement—an engagement that’s strikingly similar to her own.  Perhaps Jane was comfortable telling the story because Anne Elliot’s feelings were so different.  Anne refused Captain Wentworth because her family disapproved of his economic situation, not because she didn’t love him.  While Jane Austen refused to marry for security without love, Anne Elliot refused to marry for love without security.

I’m a huge fan of Persuasion.  After the first time I read it, I went right back to Chapter One and read the whole thing again.  Then I read it two more times.  I loved the strong emotions, moments of misunderstanding and beautiful descriptions.  At the same time, I realized that many modern readers wouldn’t have the patience for Persuasion because it’s not as lively as Pride and Prejudice.  Modernizing Persuasion was a fun way for me to relive my favorite novel over and over again.

When I started writing, I thought so many of Persuasion’s themes jived with Mormon or Latter-day Saint culture, so I made the characters members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—hence the subtitle, “A Latter-day Tale.”  Latter-day Saints place a lot of emphasis on the importance of marriage and tend to marry at younger ages than the general population.  This helped explain why the modern Captain Wentworth would be so anxious to propose.

People are still afraid of committing to marriage today, even though the reasons are a little different than they were for Jane Austen.  Why is the modern Anne afraid of getting married? For one thing, she has a lot conflict within her family.  Her parents are divorced, and like many children of divorced parents, Anne wonders if she’ll be able to have a successful marriage herself.  Another thing that worries Anne is Captain Wentworth’s choice of profession.  He wants to be a police officer, and Anne worries she won’t be able to withstand the stress.  As in the original story, Anne’s parents persuade her to refuse Captain Wentworth’s proposal.

Anne lives to regret her decision.  We’ll probably always wonder whether Jane Austen ever regretted hers.  I’m guessing she didn’t.  What do you think?

Rebecca H . Jamison

GIVEAWAY 
Leave your comments + e-mail address to get the chance to win either
1 paperback copy for US residents

or 

1 e-book copy for readers from the rest of the world

This giveaway contest ends on February 27th when the names of the winners are announced.

THE BOOK

When Anne broke off her engagement seven years ago, she thought she’d never see Neil Wentworth again. But when Neil’s brother buys the house she grew up in, it seems fate has other plans in store. Anne is unprepared for the roller coaster of emotions that come when Neil returns and starts dating her younger friend.

Convinced that Neil could no longer have strong feelings for her, Anne pushes away all thoughts of the past. But when the handsome man she’s been dating decides he can’t live without her, Anne must come to terms with her past.

Fans of Jane Austen’s Persuasion will enjoy this modern version of her most romantic story.

Price: $15.99

Number of pages: 240 pages

Genre: Romance

Publisher: Bonneville Books (Cedar Fort)

Release Date: Feb 7, 2012

Links

Blog: www.rebeccahjamison.com

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